Songfacts®:

• Written by Gayle Caldwell, this is the title track for Sinatra's 1968 album of folk-rock songs. The album was released through his own label, Reprise Records, with arranger and composer Don Costa at the helm as producer and Sinatra's longtime pianist Bill Miller as conductor.
• Guitarist Ralph Casale, a top New York session musician for an array of artists throughout the '60s (including Simon & Garfunkel and The Four Seasons), worked with Sinatra on the Cycles album, but he was careful not to look into those ol' blue eyes. He remembered in a Songfacts interview: "Sinatra used the best people and allowed them to do what they do best. His humility impressed me. The songs on this date were 'Cycles' and 'My Way Of Life,' arranged by Don Costa. I remember being careful not to stare at Sinatra since I was directly in front of him. I didn't want him to feel uncomfortable and affect the date in a negative way. I'm glad I had that insight because a few years later Glen Campbell did an interview on television and talked about playing guitar on a Sinatra date. Before Glen got hit recordings as a singer he played guitar on sessions. He said that he was in awe and kept staring at Sinatra while they were doing the recording. Glen said that Sinatra approached him and asked him to stop staring."
• Sinatra performed this on his 1968 TV special Francis Albert Sinatra Does His Thing. The show included musical guests Diahann Carroll and The 5th Dimension.